Travel for Tea

Few things speak to a Brit abroad more than a good cup to tea, so it’s quite a surprise that not every Englishman in the Indian Subcontinent has flocked to the Makaibari tea estate in Darjeeling. Nestled amongst hectares of virgin rainforest in the foothills of the Himalayas, Makaibari was the first tea estate in the world to be given Fair Trade certification and the first in Darjeeling to become 100% organic. What is more, in 2006 Makaibari set the world record price for the most expensive tea ever sold at auction. A tea garden where it is grown, will instantly tell you why. 

Makaibari is run as a business as, inevitably, it has to make money to survive. However, it is also an experiment in environmental and social sustainability, and it is this that sets it apart. Over 30 years of innovations have clearly produced a well-oiled machine, but the estate management, a joint body of predominantly female elected representatives from the workforce, is always keen to test out new ideas. Volunteers, everyone from gap year students to environmental researchers, agriculture experts and followers of the philosopher Rudolf Steiner, are encouraged to come to Makaibari, learn, share their skills, and then to go away and spread the estate’s way of life: a belief in the inter-dependence of everything.

In the neighbouring village of Kurseong there are a number of small hotels, but the best way to get to know the estate it to live there with a family. A proportion of profits from tea sales has been put into equipping and running homestays for volunteers and tourists alike. 21 families, spread through Makaibari’s seven villages, supplement their income by hosting guests at a reasonable rate of $25 per couple per night and including all meals. Each homestay has had a western-style toilet installed, so you’re safe from having to use a squat in the garden in the middle of the night.

Volunteers can get involved with every aspect of estate life. For those with an interest in conservation, tasks range from recording sightings of snow leopards and red pandas, to assessing the extend of bio-diversity in different parts of the estate. A tail-less amphibian, believed to be extinct for over 80 years, was discovered and identified at Makaibari last year, attracting interest from both the local press and CNN. Tree planting is an ongoing activity of vital importance as tree roots hold the soil together in an area otherwise prone to landslips. The tree planting programme seems to be working as Makaibari is the only tea estate in the region that has not suffered from landslides in recent years; elsewhere, as soon as the heavy monsoon rains fall, there are insufficient numbers of deep-rooted plants to prevent the soil from being washed away, taking with it people, their homes and livelihoods.

Women’s empowerment has been at the core of Makaibari’s development strategy from the very beginning. As mentioned previously, the joint management body is dominated by women and, unusually in the tea industry, the estate also employs female supervisors. Each household has been given two cows and access to a bio-gas converter to relieve women of the burden of collecting firewood for cooking, and it also provides them with an additional source of income as they can sell the manure back to the estate as organic fertiliser. Volunteers can help by providing training for would-be entrepreneurs, many of whom already take advantage of Makaibari’s micro credit scheme. Know-how on anything from production methods to computer literacy, book keeping and marketing is invaluable, and the estate’s women are incredibly keen to learn.

Education motivates both workers and their families at Makaibari and is well-supported by the management. A regular cycle of English speaking volunteers are required to teach English in the estate’s schools; regular conversation with a native speaker gives Makaibari’s students a real head start over their peers. Education also takes place outside the classroom. Volunteers recently designed posters and other visual aids explaining the importance of good hygiene in staying healthy and took them around the estate’s villages as a mini, touring exhibition.

Makaibari is 100% organic and has been since the late 1980s. In addition to the cow dung fertiliser, a number of other biodynamic preparations are used in the fields. These include stags’ bladders, cow horns, ground quartz and other natural, if unusual, products. Rudolf Steiner, the philosopher behind biodynamic agriculture, believed that this particular combination of fertilisers, spread on the fields at the right time of the month, would channel cosmic and earthly energy into the roots of the plants, making them stronger and healthier. 

At the end of a long day’s work which, though rewarding, is inevitably tiring, a walk through the estate is a balm for the soul. Dense, lush rainforest adjoins emerald green fields, both of which cling to the mountain precariously. In picking season (approximately March to October), lines of brightly clad women spiral through the fields like flocks of tropical birds, resplendent in pink, yellow and red. In the distance you can see the land fall suddenly away as it meets the dusty plains of northern India, its hazy horizon seemingly a world away from verdant Makaibari.

Surviving Travel Emergencies

What should you do when your dream holiday turns into a front-page news story? If John Simpson and a BBC news crew arrive in town, is it time for you to leave?

Brits take almost 60 million overseas trips each year, and nearly a quarter of these are to non-European destinations. The world may be getting smaller but, unfortunately, our exposure to risk is not: the past year has seen British tourists caught up in revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia and Egypt; violent demonstrations across North Africa, the Middle East and Iran; natural disasters in Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; and terrorist attacks in every corner of the globe. Whilst your chances of being caught up in such an event are remote, there are certain things you can do before and during a trip to increase your safety.

Before You Go

Read up about your destination. Check the FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk) for security updates, guidance on local laws and customs, and issues affecting foreign visitors. Buy a reputable, up to date guidebook for more detailed information on what you can expect (as well as useful local tips and contact numbers), and keep abreast of any regional news stories that may affect your trip. The BBC World Service websites are a fantastic and reliable resource.

Buy a comprehensive travel insurance policy before leaving home: single trip cover can cost as little as £3. One in five British tourists travelling abroad does not have travel insurance, meaning that if something does go wrong, they are in very real danger of being left stranded or with stratospheric bills to pay. If you are visiting a country that does not have reliable medical provision, select a policy that includes medical evacuation (Med-Evac). A tourist trekking in the Wakhan Corridor in 2010 broke his leg and had to be flown by helicopter to the nearest hospital in Faizabad: his insurance covered the $99,000 bill. Check that the policy covers you for your destination and any activities you’ll do once you get there: many policies exclude areas to which the FCO advises against travel, and even going to the USA may demand an increased premium.  Some insurance companies offer coverage for terrorism and kidnapping: your destination will probably dictate whether this additional cover is advisable.

There are, unfortunately, instances when your insurance may not cover you – natural disasters and other ‘acts of God’ for example – or when there is a delay in the insurance company providing assistance or funds. Make sure that you purchase emergency funds in local currency (or US dollars) that you can keep about your person throughout the trip. ATM cards and traveller’s cheques are undoubtedly useful, but banks are often the first places to close during unrest and you may not have access to a working cash machine. Nothing beats hard cash in a crisis.

Make copies of your expected itinerary, any local contact numbers (e.g. hotels where you’ll be staying), your passport, visas, driving license, insurance documents and any other important paperwork. Send yourself a copy as an email attachment, put a paper copy in your luggage, and leave a copy with someone you trust at home. This will speed things up immeasurably if something gets lost or you are reported missing. Register your details online with the FCO’s LOCATE service and remember to update any changes to your travel plans whilst you’re away.

Pack a first aid kit. If you are travelling somewhere with limited medical facilities, make sure it includes a variety of needles and syringes, bandages, multi-purpose antibiotics and strong pain killers (both available on prescription from your GP). You may also want to carry water purification tablets, iodine, high-energy snacks, a torch and a Swiss army knife. These items can be exceptionally useful even in non-emergency situations.

While You’re Travelling

There are a variety of emergency situations you could face whilst travelling but although on the surface they might appear quite distinct – you might wonder, for example, what a bomb attack has in common with a tsunami or earthquake – there are similarities in the way you should respond before and during the incident to increase your survival chances.

Be vigilant

Keep your eyes and ears open for information. Whilst local media or fellow travellers may warn you that trouble is brewing, your own senses can give you a far faster indication. Abandoned cases or parcels, vehicles parked in an awkward place, or individuals acting suspiciously, may indicate an increased risk of a bomb attack; seeing the sea retreat rapidly from the beach implies a tsunami will follow; and walking along empty streets with hastily boarded up shop fronts in a normally busy area suggests civil unrest is anticipated. Before rioting started in Darjeeling in August 2008, we noted shops had shut early, and women and children retreated inside. Half an hour later, mobs were setting fire to cars and smashing windows, but the locals had known they were coming. If you see something that concerns you, or you have a gut-hunch that something is just not right, leave the area and go somewhere else. The worst thing that can happen is that you miss a few hours sightseeing and instead spend it in a café on the other side of town.

Avoid large crowds and official personnel

Bomb attacks are rarely targeted specifically at tourists. Whether in Afghanistan and Iraq, Russia and Turkey, or even the US and UK, recent bombings have been overwhelmingly aimed at the authorities (police, soldiers, politicians or the judiciary) or high-profile, densely populated targets (public transport, places of worship, shopping malls etc.) that are guaranteed to garner attention for the terrorist’s cause. When tourists have been hit, therefore, it’s largely because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Large crowds can pose their own threat. On the most basic level, it’s easily to become separated from your companions and/or belongings, and even celebrations have been known to turn tragic when rumours or small, localised incidents have prompted a stampede. Keep a clear head, don’t get sucked in to the centre of a group without knowing how you will get out again, and arrange a meeting point a short distance away in case you become separated from one another or simply feel uncomfortable caught up in the crowd. Do not rely on mobile phones to organise such a rendezvous on the spot as network coverage can be sketchy and may be turned off entirely in the event of a crisis.

If the reason for the crowd amassing is political or religious, beware that the response of the authorities, or, indeed, groups with conflicting views, may be aggressive, even if the crowd is relatively peaceful. If things do turn violent, it is imperative that you keep calm and think: do not just follow the herd. During the revolution in Bishkek, we were photographing protesters in Ala Too Square. When snipers began firing from the rooftops, the majority of people ran out of the square in one direction, only to face a volley of shots fired by the police. The road was littered with bodies from this second round of shooting.  We were relatively safe from the gunshots as we’d temporarily sought shelter beneath a set of concrete steps rather than running straight into the unknown. We were able to catch our breath, assess the situation, and identify a safer route away from the square.

Protect your head and chest

In the event that something goes seriously wrong, be it an explosion or an earthquake, your head and chest are the two things you can’t live without: in a worst-case scenario, limbs and belongings are all repairable or replaceable. If debris is flying and there is no immediate cover, drop to the floor in a foetal position with your head tucked in to reduce your chance of being hit. As soon as there is a lull, look to see if you can move quickly and safely to a more secure place: this could be an open area if buildings are potentially unstable or, if there is shooting, somewhere with better cover. Do not attempt to retrieve belongings, and only move if you can reach your new location without disproportionate risk. Sometimes it is even best to stay still as you will not draw attention to yourself.

There are a variety of helmets and protective jackets on the market but, unless you are going to be reporting from the middle of a known war zone, you’d be unlikely to include them in your suitcase. There is also an argument that the weight of Kevlar and ceramic plates (the main components of a bullet-proof jacket) actually limit your ability to move quickly and escape from a problem when speed and agility can be among your greatest assets.

Know where to go

Whenever you find yourself in a new situation, always have a cursory glance around. If you are in a building, find out where the exits are. If one route is blocked, how would you leave? If you’re travelling with friends, agree a meeting point in each new city where you can reconvene if you’re separated or there is a problem. Choose somewhere you’ll both remember that is easily accessible on foot. Get to know where the closest hospital is and how to get there: even if you’re only suffering from Delhi-belly, it’s useful information to have to hand.

Establish where you can get information and/or assistance from in the event of an emergency. If you’re in a capital city, these are likely to be embassies and consulates, but also consider international banks, hotel chains or other companies and organisations that have regular interaction with foreigners and a brand that they want to protect. When the Marriott hotel was bombed in Islamabad in 2008, many survivors fled to the Serena, the city’s other 5* hotel. In Bishkek in 2010, the Hyatt became a refuge for the capital’s expats, providing security, reliable information and a constant supply of food that went far beyond the required level of customer service.

The Aftermath

If you or your companion is injured, your first priority should be getting medical attention. Be aware that many countries do not operate a reliable ambulance service, hospitals may be overcrowded and ill-equipped and, if there are a lot of casualties, you may be left entirely to your own devices. Be prepared to administer emergency first aid (see box) whilst calling for help. Contact the closest British Embassy and your insurance company to confirm your whereabouts and request assistance. This is important even if you are unhurt as it will ensure you are not listed as a missing, making sure search and rescue resources are deployed where they’re most needed.

Your next priorities are food and water, as supplies can quickly run out. Forget your normal balanced diet and focus on obtaining high-energy products such as fizzy drinks, chocolate and tinned goods, as well as staples such as rice or bread. Our somewhat eclectic shopping basket on the morning of Kyrgyzstan’s 2010 revolution included 32 Snickers bars, bottles of Coke and water, a bag of flour, pasta, carrots, and tinned peaches. They didn’t need refrigerating and kept us running until food shops reopened and restocked. Drinking bottled water or carbonated drinks will reduce the likelihood of getting sick from contaminated drinking water. If you can’t get hold of them, boil and add purification tablets to anything you drink.

Be aware of your personal safety. Tempers run high among desperate people, and grief and anger can quickly turn to violent outbursts. Looters and armed gangs stalked the streets of Bishkek last year after the revolution. The police were in hiding and a significant minority took advantage of the situation to make a quick buck or settle old scores. The sexual assault on a foreign journalist in Cairo when Mubarak fell, and the recent kidnappings of foreigners in Libya further reminds us of the very real dangers of a sudden lack of law and order.

Treat personnel in uniform with politeness but be cognisant of the fact that they may not be legitimate, or maybe seeking to abuse their authority. Do not hand over original documents unless you are inside a police station or at your consulate; use photocopies instead to identify yourself. If you are asked for a payment or fine, again try to pay it only inside the police station, and request a receipt. Make a note if you can of the name and/or badge number of the officers involved as this is a strong deterrent if they are acting beyond their remit and it helps minimise the corruption.

Think carefully about returning home. In the event of a large-scale incident, such as the recent Japanese earthquakes, the local authorities and emergency response units are overstretched and simply do not have the resources to look after tourists as well. Their priority, quite rightly, is on people who have lost everything and not those who have a safe home to go back to. Unless you have specific skills that are needed (e.g. search and rescue or medical training), or are staying with an injured person, change your travel plans to another area or finish your trip early.

BOX 1: Emergency First Aid

First Steps

-          Call for help – this can be the emergency services, or even bystanders.

-          Check your surroundings: watch out for falling debris, live wires, traffic and anything that poses a danger.

-          Check if the casualty is conscious.

-          Don´t attempt to move the casualty unless absolutely necessary.

ABCDE

-          Airway: Check for obstructions blocking the casualty´s airway. If you are confident they do not have a spinal or neck injury, turn their head to prevent choking if they are sick.

-          Breathing: Is the casualty breathing? If not, pinch the casualty´s nose. Place your mouth over theirs, making a seal with your lips. Blowing slowly but firmly, give one breath every five seconds. Watch for the chest to rise as you give these breaths. If the chest does not rise, reposition the head and try again.

-          Circulation: Does the casualty have a pulse? If not, you will need to administer CPR. Give 30 chest compressions, followed by 2 rescue breaths. Repeat for 2 minutes before re-checking for signs of life. For detailed instructions see www.rescus.org.

-         Disability/Deformity: Ask the casualty to move their hands and feet. If they can’t, they may have spinal damage. Check for obvious fractures, dislocations or anything that looks out of place.

-    Exposure: Systematically expose each part of the body to check for wounds. This includes hard-to-see areas such as buttocks and armpits.

Control Bleeding

-     If your casualty is breathing, stopping bleeding is the most important thing to do.

-     Apply direct pressure to the wound. Ideally use an absorbent pad or piece of clothing but, if nothing else is available, even your hand will do.

-     Use pressure points in the arm (between the elbow and armpit), groin (along the bikini line), or behind the knee to control bleeding in the arm, thigh, or lower leg.

-    Wounds to the head, face and neck typically bleed severely. Keep the casualty upright and be careful not to obstruct breathing whilst applying pressure.

-    If you need to apply more bandages to stop bleeding, put them over the top of the old ones so as not to disturb any clotting. 

      This article was originally published by Real Travel magazine in Spring 2011. However, as the magazine has now gone bancrupt without paying for the article and its pictures, I am reproducing it here.

Sustainable tourism in C. Asia

If you are unable to pick out Kyrgyzstan on a map, do not fear: you are not alone. With a population of little over 5 million, this Soviet Union successor state sits quietly nestled between China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and, with the exception of its charmingly named ‘Tulip Revolution’ in 2005, has barely made a mark on the western media. The country is largely rural and, until recently, tourists to the region have generally bypassed Kyrgyzstan in favour of package tours to the great Silk Road cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkhand in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan cannot compete for architectural splendour, but is slowly fighting back, giving foreigners the opportunity to share in its stunning natural environment and nomadic culture through living, socialising and travelling with the people of Kyrgyzstan. Through this community-based approach, Kyrgyzstan has begun to make its mark as the world leader in sustainable tourism.

The largest ethnic group in Kyrgyzstan are the Kyrgyz, a Turkic people that make up around 70% of the population. They are traditionally semi-nomadic herders, living in yurts (felt and animal skin tents built around a wooden frame) in the mountain pastures during the summer and then bringing down their sheep, yaks and horses to escape the snows at the end of September. When the yurts are in the summer pastures, you can travel from one to the next, staying with local families and using their horses. The Community Based Tourism organisation (CBT) has a network of local guides across the country to help you find your chosen homestay in the seemingly endless mountains, take you trekking and show you the very heart of Kyrgyzstan. They are not professionals in the tourism industry but usually farmers and herders in neighbouring areas, sharing their personal experience without any of the crass commercialism of tour buses, action-packed itineraries and the rest of the West crammed in beside you.

The highlights of Kyrgyzstan have to be the lakes of Issyk-Kul and Karakol, surrounded on all sides by the soaring peaks of the Ala-Too Mountains. Despite its elevation, Issyk-Kul never freezes; it is heated from below by volcanic activity. The warm water has enabled a number of sanatoria with thermal springs and mud baths to develop on the northern shore, but the real attraction in both areas undoubtedly remains the natural landscape. Whether you explore it by horse or on foot with a guide and porters, it is easy to see why this part of the world was so little known until the arrival of Russian explorers partaking in the Great Game.

Kyrgyzstan’s greatest draw is that in a world where the greatest sites are so often spoiled by the presence of too many people, well meaning or otherwise, you can still leave the capital, Bishkek, and enter into a natural environment of awe-inspiring proportions that is still completely untouched by mankind. The few people you encounter, with their temporary shelters, mobile flocks and four-legged transport leave no mark on the landscape when they move on, and so if the country’s tourists were to be any different, it would be nothing but destructive. Kyrgyzstan has, it seems, got the balance right, bringing in much needed tourist dollars and projecting an overwhelmingly positive image to the international community without falling for model of tourism that blights so many other developing countries.

Bed Sharing in Song Kol

Hand on heart, I can honestly say that I have never before awoken in bed with five men. Neither had I nose-dived into a ditch so violently that the windscreen fell fully out of the car, nor filtered my morning tea through my teeth to keep the bits out. Kyrgyzstan was always going to be something out of the ordinary. 

Until forced settlement at the hands of Soviet Russia, the Kyrgyz people were nomads. In the twenty years since independence, a number of people have returned to the land, and a special few are willing to share their life with visitors. Two hours from the main road and equipped with neither running water nor electricity, the yurts (felt and animal skin tents) of the Kyrgyz nomads can hardly be described as 5* accommodation, but  a single night provides you with more insight into Kyrgyzstan’s history and culture than could be gained from a year in the capital, Bishkek. 

Yurt stays are organised by Community Based Tourism (CBT), a co-operative organisation which puts tourists in touch with local people. We booked our yurt by calling into the CBT office in Karakol and drove on with three backpackers in tow: public transport is decidedly erratic. We drove up into the mountains, heading for Lake Song Kol, where dinner, our yurt and nomadic family awaited us. The sunset dancing across the surface of the lake turned to inky darkness, and a thousand stars burst out brilliantly overhead.

Having spent ¾ of an hour driving aimlessly in the dark, completely unable to find a turn-off to our yurt, a elderly man driving a rusty Lada took pity on us and offered to show the way. Out of politeness I squashed into the passenger seat, forgetting for an instant the Kyrgyz penchants for drink driving. I wasn’t to forget for long. The Lada hurtled along like a thing possessed, bouncing across potholes, rocks and small streams and sliding sideways across slick patches of mud. In the bleary light of the headlamps barely anything was visible.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a mound of earth appeared to rear up in front of the car. The Lada hit it with a thud, the driver swore, and we plunged down the other side with a sickening crunch. Tiny shards of glass scattered across the dashboard and front seats before the entire windscreen collapsed out of its rotten frame, breaking further as it hit the bonnet. The engine spluttered, the headlamps sparked, and we were once again swallowed by the blanket of night. 

A short while later, now towing our guide and his invalid Lada behind our car, we pulled up at a semi-circle of yurts camped on the lakeside. Smoke and the smell of dinner cooking wafted from holes in the roofs across the grass, and half a dozen excited children came shrieking out to greet us. With the darkness had come an icy chill – winter was fast approaching – and so we were ushered inside almost as soon as we stepped out from the car.

A yurt is built in a circle around a fire. A wooden lattice around the walls supports a pointed roof, animal skin keeps it watertight, and thick layers of felt from the nomads’ own flocks keep winter winds at bay. We left our shoes at the door – you should always enter a Kyrgyz home barefoot – and sunk our toes into thick felt rugs and quilted blankets. At a low table in the center of the room, dinner was waiting: hot, oily soup with lamb and potato, freshly cooked unleavened bread with jam made from wild berries, and steaming green tea to wash it all down. Our hostess grinned as she served each dish, flashing her numerous gold teeth, a sign of wealth, in a wide open smile. 

When the final mouthful had been consumed, we lounged back on stacks of blankets, each one a patchwork of primary colors and geometric designs. Where the table had been, a bed was laid out with yet more stacks of rugs and quilts. It was not until the bed was nearly complete that I noticed its unusual shape: it was little over 6ft long, as one would expect, but a good 12ft in width! Realising the intended sleeping arrangements, my eyes skated around the room, taking in the horrified expressions of my fellow visitors. They were clearly not amused when I, the only girl in the room, took up my place at one end of the bed and began to hum the children’s song “There were ten in the bed and the little one said…”

What Not to Eat

Travel brings with it many new culinary delights but, along the way, there will always be a few local ‘specialties’ guaranteed to make you sick, or wish you had been just to get the damn thing out of your system. Read on for the top (or, perhaps, bottom) ten things to avoid consuming whilst on the road.

Goat Brain

Curry disguises all manner of things, but if in India or Pakistan you’re presented with something grayish yellow that smells like bad offal and has the texture of scrambled eggs, it’s quite likely you’re being served up goat brain. No amount of chili will make it edible as the lumps stick in your throat, the smell lingers in your nose, and you’ll wake up from nightmares convinced you have scrapie.

Grasshoppers and Crickets

For reasons unknown, several countries seem to have a passion for deep-fried creepy crawlies, especially ones with wings. In the Philippines beware of the not-so-tasty fried cricket bar snacks after you’ve had a couple of beers, and in Mexico steer well clear of salted chapulines- they’re grasshoppers with the crunchy legs, wings and eyes intact.

Kumis

Oh, the joys of kumis. Close your eyes. Remember the contents of your student fridge, the smell of milk three months old. Would you take a sip? Kumis, a particular favorite of the Kyrgyz people in Central Asia, is a drink made from fermented (i.e. gone off) mares’ milk. Milk should not be fizzy. Nor should it be rancid in smell and taste. Leave horse milk to foals, and certainly don’t let it sit around in the sun.

Tripe

Tripe is a key component of dog food. It is made from the stomach lining of cows or sheep and, when removed from the animal, regularly contains vestiges of the creature’s last supper. There are an alarmingly large number of places where this yellow-white glandular tissue makes it onto the menu, despite the fact that it requires 2-3 hours of slow cooking to get it to a stage where it can be digested by a human. One has to ask, why bother?

Grubs

Grubs are larvae, and larvae turn into caterpillars, frogs, wasps and flies. If you’re really luck, your grub may even mature into a barnacle or beetle. The Maoris may try to convince you their hu-hu grubs taste like chicken and the Koreans think eating silk worm grubs is healthy but I only have one thing to say: sometimes it’s a good idea to engage your brain before opening your mouth.

Snake Blood

Think you might be lacking in sexual prowess? How about fixing the problem with a nice pint of snake blood? Purportedly harvested from the King Cobra, you can enjoy this in Thailand straight or as a mixer in a cocktail, and pay up to $200 US for the privilege. If you do manage to find someone to sleep with having drunk this down and told them about it, get out while you still can and run hard.

Baby Mouse Wine

If the name isn’t enough to put you off, one look at the bottle certainly ought to. In a liter of Chinese rice wine you’ll see four to five tiny mouse corpses, each drowned in the liquid, poised as if attempting to swim to the surface. The base alcohol is rough, tasting the way gasoline smells, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the mice do nothing to improve it in any way, shape or form.

Surstromming / Raake Orret

The Swedes and the Norwegians live in developed countries and can certainly afford refrigerators. Quite why, then, they allow their herrings to rot before eating them is beyond me. Fish are placed in a barrel with small quantities of sugar and salt and then left in the garage for a number of months until the mixture has fermented. The barrel cannot be opened indoors, so pungent is the smell, and the juice from the fish instantly attracts flies. It is potentially poisonous if the wrong bacteria contaminates the food.

Squirrel Brain

What is it about the brains of animals that invites people to just tuck in? You cook the head with the rest of the body and then, using a small spoon, crack open the skull and scoop out the soft stuff. I’m not convinced that the calorie content of the meal outweighs the energy expended catching enough squirrels to make a squirrel brain supper.

Breast Milk

Feeling homesick? Missing Mama? Head to Changsha in Hunan Province, China and enjoy a meal cooked in, you’ve guessed it, human breast milk. The locals claim dishes prepared in this way are not only tasty but enable you to “experience maternal love” while you eat. Controversy was recently sparked in the UK press when a Covent Garden ice cream parlour started selling a flavour called Baby Gaga - breast milk ice cream. You needn't go far to find it. If you haven’t yet been weaned, world travel is probably not the thing for you. Stay safe, stay home, and stick to your own mother’s milk.

The gastro guide to Kolkata

Arriving in Kolkata for the first time I was told that Bengalis care for only three things: food, educating their children, and food. To try and understand the city you must adopt the same Bengali mindset, tasting and savouring bite by bite everything that Kolkata has to offer, and prioritising gastronomy above all else.

Most of Kolkata eats on the street, so this is the perfect place to start. Mid morning in the roads around Dalhousie Square and the High Court, tiny stalls barely wider than a man begin to appear, their owners frying and roasting snacks for the endless stream of hungry office workers. Traffic grinds to a halt to accommodate the milling crowd who loiter to chat as they eat spiced chickpeas, freshly made samosas and patties, hakka noodles and infinite cups of sickly sweet chai. Kolkata once had an influential Chinese population and so far eastern treats make their appearance alongside the more traditional Indian fare. The rest of India may depend on its tiffin to get through the day, but here food from home does not even get a look in; why would it when such a varied, fresh and cheap display is on offer? You can have a little of whatever you most fancy whenever it best suits you.

Brunch merges unnoticed into lunch and then to teatime once again. The chai wallahs do a roaring trade, each boiling up his own secret combination of cardamom and cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg, saffron and aniseed with the tea, milk and sugar. The resulting brew, whichever stall it comes from, is satisfyingly thick, coating the lips, tongue and teeth with every sip. As if it weren’t sweet enough already, it is accompanied by sweets: bobbly, orange ladoos crumbling between your fingers, small, dense squares of pistachio barfi, round white rasgullas dripping with sugar syrup and, best of all, the deep fried swirls of jalebis, still warm inside their sticky, honey-like shell. 

Shortly after four the office babus begin to pour out again onto the streets, this time heading for home. However long or short the journey it must be routed via Jagu Bazaar or New Market to ensure the freshest fish and vegetables are brought home for the evening meal. The choice of ingredients will determine the recipe the wife at home must cook; she is at the tender mercy of her husband’s gastronomic whims. 

 

Chicken is a relatively recent introduction to Bengali cuisine; the centre of the meal is almost always fish not meat. Located at the point where the magnificent Ganges River leaps out into the Bay of Bengal, Kolkata’s menu is no doubt dictated by her place in the world, and the result is a delight to behold. Each ghat along the Hooghly River is crowded with small boats and nets. Fish and shell fish of every shape, colour and size gleam on the fishmongers’ tables; competition for the best of the fishermen’s catch is fierce. Prawns the size of a forearm compete for attention with live sardines, small jumping fish and marine beasts best measured in feet not inches. But the fish which rises above them all in the eyes of Bengal is the Hilsa, whose dense white meat is in such demand that local stocks cannot suffice; Bangladesh’s rivers must also contribute to satisfy Kolkata’s cravings. Fried with just a few simple spices the flavour of the fish must speak for itself, the infinite tiny bones the most minor distraction from the enjoyment of the Hilsa’s taste, smell and texture.

In the last few years, Oh! Calcutta has become the gastronomic gathering place for Kolkata locals and well-informed visitors alike. The chain has a number of outlets dotted across the city and serving a rainbow of delicacies, from succulent fish steamed in banana leaves to old-fashioned Railway Curry with its aroma of an Empire past. The restaurants’ sophisticated atmosphere contrasts with the low-profile chaos of the street stalls but the customers of both share two things in common: a love of their food and a desire to share their passion. Wherever you eat in Kolkata you can be sure of eating like a king.

Photos C. Tracing Tea 2008

   

24 Hours in Kolkata

10.00   Nothing in Kolkata happens early so start your day with the city’s bureaucrats breakfasting on their way to work. The street stalls around the High Court and Dalhousie Square have a fabulous variety of snacks – from samosas and noodles to sickly-sweet ladoos, and while you’re there you can also check out the Town Hall, an exact copy of the one in Ypres.

11.00   Take a walk around the corner to St. John’s Church (Netaji Subhas Road) – a little piece of 18^th century London in the heart of the city. The curator is understandably proud of his newly renovated church and its colonial history while the surrounding churchyard has a welcome atmosphere of surprising calm.

12.30   Down by the river grab freshly fried fish from the morning’s catch before taking a boat out on the Hooghly. Kolkata’s colonial past, its mansions and warehouses, will be laid out before you along with evidence of more modern industries. If you’re in luck you may catch a peak of the endangered Ganges River Dolphin or see the immersion of clay statues of gods and demons. 

14.30   A visit to Kolkata could not be complete without an hour or so in the Victoria Memorial, the elaborate white marble edifice that holds sway over the centre of the city. Horse-drawn carriages bedecked in silver foil and flowers transport lovers and tourists alike whilst endless picnics and games of cricket take place on the neighbouring maidan.

16.30   Mid afternoon demands tea at Flurys (Park Street), Kolkata’s most famous patisserie. The chocolate muddy fudge comes highly recommended as does the people watching either side of the sheet glass windows.

17.30   Bengalis live for their food so whet your appetite and head into Jagu Babu Bazaar to see a fascinating array of local produce, fragrant spices in every colour and the largest prawns you’ve ever encountered. The dexterity of the fishmongers is outstanding and, although you may never eat chicken again, the fresh fish displays will have your mouth watering uncontrollably.

19.00   Oh! Calcutta (Forum Mall, Elgin Road) is packed night on night with well-heeled locals and offers up some of the best Bengali food around. Don’t miss the Hilsa, the delicately flavoured white fish that is Kolkata’s undisputed favourite, or the warm, soft breads that accompany it.

21.00   End the night at one of Kolkata’s numerous clubs, drinking G&T and fantasising about bygone days of the British Empire. The Calcutta Club, Bengal Club and Tollygunge Club all have fantastic colonial-era buildings, lively and well-stocked bars and an enthusiastic clientele. Join in the party and stay on until the early hours.

Photos C. Tracing Tea 2008

 

Bradt Guide to Kazakhstan: The Final Part

Producing a new edition of a guidebook happens in seemingly 101 stages, many of which had not even occurred to me. Since October last year, Max and I (with a little help from our Russian-speaking friends) have been updating Bradt's travel guides to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan so that 2nd editions of each book can be published in November this year. Kazakhstan is the first to go to press and so the first edition we've seen through from start to finish.
Paul Brummell, Britain's former Ambassador to Kazakhstan, wrote Bradt's original guide to Kazakhstan in 2008. It is a hefty tome (not surprisingly given that Kazakhstan is the same size as western Europe) and densely filled with detail, but Brummell's writing style is fluid and entertaining. The historical and cultural stories, as well as Brummell's own anecdotes of his travels, make for a pleasurable read.
The downside of so much detail is that when it comes to updating the book there are literally thousands of facts to check. Every bus station, hotel, shopping mall and travel agent needs to be called, not to mention the endless museums, cafes and nightclubs. Not all of these companies have phones, and those that do have often changed their numbers or simply gone out of business. During this research stage you feel as much like Sherlock Holmes or a character in CSI as a writer.
In some cases there is no alternative but to turn up on the doorstep to find out if XYZ still exists. This is particularly useful with hotels and restaurants as you can do a quality check at the same time. Pitching up in town is also advantageous as you can check out any new places that have sprung up since the previous edition was published: restaurants, cafes and bars in particular seem to pop up and down like rabbits in a burrow.
Once the facts are checked and organised (we write the info up into Excel so it is all in one place), it's time to edit the original manuscript. Fortunately these days everything is digital, which speeds this part of the process up no end. We remove everything that has gone, change what needs to be changed, and add in the new entries. In the case of the Kazakhstan guide there was also some entirely new content: new sections on education and photography, a map of Turkestan, and added info on driving into/out of and across Kazakhstan.The manuscript is edited as a Word file, and all the changes are tracked so the project manager can see what's going on.
When we sent off the manuscript , we breathed a huge sigh of relief: the heavy lift on the edition was done. The project manager checks the manuscript, emails over any questions or other matters raised during the proof reading for correction, and we respond by email. That's all pretty straight forward, and the book can then be typeset. The difficult bits come next.
Maps. Every decent size town mentioned in the Kazakh guide has a map which, as well as giving the major street names, shows the location of every company and site mentioned in the guide. Removing defunct companies from the map is relatively straightforward: you just cross them off. Adding new sites in is a little more problematic. In some respects, the Soviet Union was great at cartography. The topographical maps produced, and those showing mineral deposits, are exceptionally detailed and still great resources today. Sadly, this attention to detail doesn't continue to town plans. Buildings are often not actually located on the street mentioned in their address, and its common for more than one name (usually Soviet and post-Soviet choices) to refer to the same physical street. Plotting an address accurately on a map without out actually walking the street is nigh on impossible, and Google Maps only goes part of the way to clarifying the issue.
Armed with different colour biros, Tipex and multiple copies of the same maps, we slowly plotted, checked, re-plotted and re-checked the position of every new site. It was painstaking. Our humble drawings, hopefully sufficiently clear in their final draft, were dispatched to Bradt's cartographer to be rendered in their house style. We await the final result.
 Although companies cannot pay for inclusion in the core text of Bradt's travel guides, and certainly cannot pay for a more favourable review, there are a few pages at the end of each guide given over to paid advertisers. This is usually a national airline and one or two high-end hotels that are looking to increase their exposure to potential customers. We made ourselves a 'hit-list' of potential advertisers and, via phone, email, fax and, on occasions, meetings in person, attempted to reel them in. Now I know we are in a recession, but there are a limited number of places where you can actually advertise companies in Kazakhstan, and the advertising rates are minute compared to those in magazines. The level of lethargy we met with was outstanding, and even once companies had decided to advertise, getting them to hand over their artwork at the correct spec was like pulling teeth. Fortunately Max had rather more patience in this area than I did.
The final job on the update list (with the exception of choosing pictures) was to take the final, type-set PDF of the text and to cross-reference and index the text. Even with the invaluable 'Find' option in Word and Adobe, this tasks seems to take forever, not helped by the fact it is incredibly dull. It is not enough simply to list in the index every occurrence of the name "Dostoevsky" or the town "Aktobe": the vast majority of the listings are simply street names or throw-away references. It is necessary to trawl through each of these individually, pulling out for the index only those which add to the reader's understanding of the topic or enable them to find a specific piece of information. Even with Amy Winehouse blaring in the background, the task is mind-numbing.
Our tasks complete, Bradt is doing their final checks and assembling the colour photos that are one of the most popular highlights in any guidebook. Humans are very visual creatures and, no matter how eloquent the prose, a good selection of pictures will always swing your choice of where to go. We're excited to see the finished product but, like readers everywhere, will be waiting until Nov. 20th to see our book in print.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kazakhstan-Bradt-Travel-Guides-Brummell/dp/1841623695/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311685580&sr=8-2